[Fanfic][KHR!][Shards of Gold] First Movement
Title: Shards of Gold
Part: First Movement
Part / Chapter Theme: 3 (Roleplay), for rainbowtuna
Verse: Fonology
Verse Theme(s): 1 thru 4
Series: Katekyo Hitman Reborn [AU with Tales of the Abyss elements]
Author: kayono (ffn) / mecomptane (lj)
Rating: T / PG-13
Characters / Pairings: Arcobaleno (all!), Tsuna, Timoteo, Vongola; all27, eventual R27
Warnings: Rating will probably be bumped up later due to... situations. Random violence, lots of dead bodies, the usual when talking about Vongola. Also, some hints of pedophilia and ephebephilia and situations that may or may not resemble slavery.
Summary: Even the underworld and secret socieites need religious guidance, even if it's in the form of a 36,000 year old cult. The only problem is when the underworld has problems with following "scripture".
Notes: So, uh... first posting to this community. And I've had this idea bouncing around for a while, and when reading the prompts it may or may not have instantaneously morphed into the below. (Continuations no doubt to come, since this is one of my more obsessive plunnies and therefore Will Not Let Go.)
I appologize in advance for my proofreading skills (which are nonexistant regarding my own work).
"What will the Ninth do now?"
"I don't know... losing all those people must have been very hard on both of them...."
"I heard that it was a mafia Family, but I don't think any of them would be so short-sighted to not see the consequences--"
"What consequences? We have no proof about anything--we can't act! The Ninth can't make any proclamations! We're stuck just sitting around and doing nothing, when we should be out there--"
"Doing what? Making needless enemies?"
"Then what do you suppose we do?"
"Well..."
"Let's think logically, okay? Whoever did this must not have need of, or not care about, the Sentiences. Those behind this are a completely foreign group to us. We need to let Core Research do their jobs... especially before we try anything. We don't need to cause more issues for the Ninth."
"When you put it that way...."
"I suppose that's true."
Lal scoffed and turned on her heel, stalking down the marble hallways. Those three! What right did they have to question the way the Ninth ran things, or make plans behind their backs, or--
Or she needed to stop being so paranoid. Just because people were talking did not revolters or traitors make.
Hopefully.
It was rather suspicious how Rem's Manor had been destroyed, though....
"Oi, Lal! We're being called together, kora!"
She was so very, very tempted to just ignore her (annoying) once-student. He deserved it after the maple syrup incident this morning, after all.
Colonello ran up to walk along beside her. She tried not to notice his overly goofy grin. "Lal, aren't you going to ask why, kora?"
"No, I'm not."
He looked hurt at that. Just a tiny bit. "Why not?"
Had it always been this much effort not to cause him bodily harm? Recollection said yes, but she didn't believe it. "Because a certain loudmouth will probably tell me anyways."
His grin was back in full force, and he started bouncing on his heels like a five year old. Lal wondered if their occasional time spent in infant form was starting to take its toll on the other ex-COMSUBIN. "The Ninth figured it out kora! So he wants all us Arcobaleno there, to tell us first! Isn't that great, kora?"
Lal would have agreed, if she could figure out what, exactly, had been 'figured out'. "Colonello?"
"Yes?"
"Exactly how many crises are we going through right now?"
"Oh," and he at least had the grace to look sheepish. "I mean... he figured out what to do about the Rem situation kora."
"Rem?" Lal blinked--one didn't often hear about a 'situation' regarding one of the Sentiences--they took care of their devotees too well for complaints to arise. Then again, it had been Rem's Manor burned, and everyone inside dead or gravely injured.... "Don't tell me," Lal finally groaned, "that Rem's High Priestess was killed?"
"Even if she hadn't been, all those left alive are beyond the capability of fulfilling their duties. Rem's agreed to let all of them retire with graces, kora."
"Who will stand as the High Priestess for the Balancing Ceremony then?" It was too much to consider: of all the Sentiences, Rem was the second-most picky regarding devotee selection, and the role of High Priestess was the most sensitive and therefore the devotee had to be selected with every care and consideration. With Rem being the mind of the Sixth Fonon, the "Sound of Light", there were very few people who passed even the basic qualifications to be a priest or priestess of Rem's... and of those, only one in two hundred had even a sliver of potential to be the High Priestess. If they were lucky. "There's only one week until the Ceremony--that's not enough time to find someone Rem approves of!" And not completing the Balancing Ceremony between Light and Dark? Was a very, very bad idea.
Colonello looked thoughtful, grabbing Lal's elbow and dragging her down an ill-lit hallway. "I don't know, kora," he admitted. "But the Ninth seems to have a plan, kora."
Lal shook her head. "If the Ninth has a plan, then Lorelei has a plot, and God knows I'd rather not be involved in one of those again."
"Haha, we'll see, kora."
The meeting chamber Colonello directed (dragged) her to was an out of the way annex within a larger, normally unused portion of the Main Compoud: the Solarium was widely inaccesible, highly populated by plants and small animals, and completely impractical for nearly all endeavours. (Specifically, it had been designed as a recreational park for rainy days; but the gardens and gazebos and covered walkways and leafy glades could draw people to them in the middle of a hurricane.)
"Ah good, you're here," the Ninth greeted from his seat on a worn bench. Lal bet that the bench was actually brand new and had just been--what was the word? Distressed?--for appearances sake. "We are just waiting on Reborn, then."
"He will not make it today," Fon murmured serenely from his perch in a nearby oak. "Reborn said that Shadow was being abnormally noisy for a summer day, and needed to visit him before the Sentience destroyed his own Manor in his aggitation."
All those present winced: Shadow on a good day was someone you didn't want to deal with. Shadow on a bad day was someone you wouldn't subject even your worst enemies to.
"That might just be for the better, then," the Ninth murmured to himself, looking around at those gathered. "Very well. Due to these most tragic events of the last two weeks, we have regretfully lost all of Rem's devotees--not all to Death, thank heavens, but they are lost to us nonetheless. Rem's High Priestess, in particular, and both of those in-training to succeed the High Priestess, were some of the first to fall in the attack."
"Rest their souls," Aria whispered, laying a hand gently over the slight bulge of her stomach.
The Ninth nodded to her, looking old and weary. "Without a High Priestess to stand for Light, the Balancing Ceremony cannot be completed. However," he cut off the Arcobaleno's open mouths and silent protests, "Rem has, finally, secured for us a person who fulfills all the necessary qualifications."
Mouths were still agape, but for a different reason. Lal tried to reason it out. "A... already? I'm not angry, but... all qualifications?"
"All that matter," the Ninth agreed, a faint smile twitching the corners of his lips. "But there are still some issues regarding this."
Lal wasn't sure what to say, what to ask; as far as she could tell, everyone else was in the same state.
The Ninth took pity on them at least and explained: "The person Rem has found... was not found by Rem." Not that that made any sense... and Lal's suspicions regarding Lorelei's involvement were twitching. Please don't let me be right, please don't let me be right.... "The person chosen is, in fact, a five year old child."
"WHAT?" Requirements met or not, children were generally NOT accepted. Even Verde, Viper and Skull looked horrified (as much as they could look, hoods and helmets and scientifically plotting minds considered). There was only one situation where children were accepted as a devotee, and Lal was still desperately hoping that Lorelei had stayed out of this.
Aria stood to object, and swayed on her feet--she still wasn't used to pregnancy or the accompanying morning sickness. "Steady," Colonello cautioned her, having sprung up to support her.
Aria, of course, ignored him. (Lal silently applauded her.) "With all due respect, Ninth, I must object to this! A child has no place taking part in the Balancing Ceremony, nor bearing the weight of being High Priestess! Surely there is someone else--older, perhaps more mature--who could take this place!" She cupped her stomach, eyes turning downcast. "No child should bear that burden."
"I understand your feelings, Aria," the Ninth murmured, extending a kindly hand to her and helping her to a seat beside him. "However, this child is no ordinary child." The shivers that ran down Lal's spine told her that nothing good would come of what followed. "Although five years old, this young one has shown an affinity for all fonons, especially those of the Light callibration."
Lal had to admit that was impressive: normally fonic affinities weren't remotely useable (and therefore measurable) until well into the teen years. Which, of course, was only more suspicions. A five year old child with such a high fonic affinity, appearing seemingly out of nowhere? This practically screamed it was--
"And," the Ninth finished with a long-suffering sigh, "this boy was hand-picked by Lorelei to be the Successor of the Sky."
There was only one sane reaction.
"There are so many things wrong with that!" Lal raved later, sitting around the table in the Arcobaleno's private quarters. "First of all, a five year old child should NEVER be forced into the Balancing Ceremony!"
"There is a certain wrongness to asking someone younger than fifteen to take part in such an act," Fon agreed quietly, eyes trained on his tea.
"Even fifteen is still too young," Lal retorted, "it should be twenty minimum! And the Successor? The future Sky, Lorelei's sole Priest?"
"There's probably going to be some division of time or something so that they can fulfill both roles," Colonello tried to reason. The crease on his brow betrayed his otherwise calm countenance.
Lal brushed his comment off. "And then there's the fact that this child is a five year old BOY. Last I checked, the High Priestess needed to be a woman!"
Aria remained silent, focusing on the plate of cookies before her.
Lal shook her head, standing with a hand pounding on the table. "We should march straight up to the Ninth's office, demand to see him, and get him to talk sense into Rem and Lorelei!"
"We did walk out on him earlier," Colonello pointed out. "He probably was going to give us more information about this, maybe explain that there's some other reasoning behind this--"
"There's NOT any other reasoning!" Lal shouted, "The only reasoning is Lorelei--once again--taking advantage of his place and shoving his ass where it doesn't belong--"
"Lal... Lorelei would be the last person to want to hand over his future Priest to another Sentience," Aria whispered.
In the ensuing silence, Lal caught her first good look of Aria in weeks. The other woman was pale, dark hair standing out against snow-white skin, with a thin face and almost perfectly hour-glass shaped body and heavily darkened eyes tinged with a hint of red.
Lal paused. A woman who spent as much time outside as Aria did--especially a pregnant woman--should not be pale. Her body should have taken on extra pounds to help support the life growing in her womb. Her eyes were dark because they were sunken, and appeared red probably because of tears....
"Aria," Lal ventured, "you look... sick. What's wrong?"
Aria didn't glance up, but her silence was conspicuous.
"Aria--"
"Don't, Colonello," Fon cut the other off. "Aria, if you ever need to talk about it, we are here."
"I know," she replied, "and thank you."
Lal frowned, still worried for her fellow Arcobaleno. Still, if Aria didn't want to talk about what was wrong with her, there were other problems to address. "But if Lorelei didn't want to hand over his Priest, why would this... this child be assigned to Rem?"
"Maybe there were other issues," Fon offered. "It does seem unlikely that only a five year old boy would be the first, and apparently only, applicable candidate for this position."
Colonello nodded. "That sounds right. There's too many unknown variables here. It worries me."
"Well--"
Knock.
"Sirs, Ma'am?"
Lal rolled her eyes while Colonello stood to get the door. "Who the heck needs to bother us now?" She grumbled.
The old oak door swung open, Colonello staring dispondently at the suited man on the other side. "What?"
"Sir," the man began, "the Ninth sent me with this to you, with a message. 'Take good care of this for me,' he says."
"Take good care of what?" Lal called, unable to see what was in the doorway, what with Colonello blocking half of it and the door blocking the other half.
"This, ma'am," the man bowed to her, turning and leaving immediately afterwards.
Aria had looked up, attention caught. "Colonello?"
The Rain Arcobaleno turned slowly, one hand reaching out to firmly shut and lock the door; his other hand was grasping a pale, small fist: a fist that led to an arm, and a shoulder, and a soft, rounded face... and wide, impossibly large gold-amber eyes.
"H... hi," the little boy greeted, stumbling forward into a shy bow. A part of Lal's mind that was still opperating noted that his voice was heavily accented, and he looked Asian--Korean, maybe, or Japanese? "I... um, am... I am Tsuna!" He smiled widely, still a bit shy.
Lal, Fon, Aria and Colonello stared.
Caught in the oppresive silence, the little boy--Tsuna--ducked timidly behind Colonello's legs, staring out at them like a deer caught in the headlights.
They stared some more.
Tsuna looked up at Colonello, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "Mister... can I see mommy now?"
Fon fought back a smile, Aria stood to welcome him, and Lal fought the urge to rub her forehead. If her oncoming mirgraine was any indication, this was going to be one long week indeed.
Part: First Movement
Part / Chapter Theme: 3 (Roleplay), for rainbowtuna
Verse: Fonology
Verse Theme(s): 1 thru 4
Series: Katekyo Hitman Reborn [AU with Tales of the Abyss elements]
Author: kayono (ffn) / mecomptane (lj)
Rating: T / PG-13
Characters / Pairings: Arcobaleno (all!), Tsuna, Timoteo, Vongola; all27, eventual R27
Warnings: Rating will probably be bumped up later due to... situations. Random violence, lots of dead bodies, the usual when talking about Vongola. Also, some hints of pedophilia and ephebephilia and situations that may or may not resemble slavery.
Summary: Even the underworld and secret socieites need religious guidance, even if it's in the form of a 36,000 year old cult. The only problem is when the underworld has problems with following "scripture".
Notes: So, uh... first posting to this community. And I've had this idea bouncing around for a while, and when reading the prompts it may or may not have instantaneously morphed into the below. (Continuations no doubt to come, since this is one of my more obsessive plunnies and therefore Will Not Let Go.)
I appologize in advance for my proofreading skills (which are nonexistant regarding my own work).
"What will the Ninth do now?"
"I don't know... losing all those people must have been very hard on both of them...."
"I heard that it was a mafia Family, but I don't think any of them would be so short-sighted to not see the consequences--"
"What consequences? We have no proof about anything--we can't act! The Ninth can't make any proclamations! We're stuck just sitting around and doing nothing, when we should be out there--"
"Doing what? Making needless enemies?"
"Then what do you suppose we do?"
"Well..."
"Let's think logically, okay? Whoever did this must not have need of, or not care about, the Sentiences. Those behind this are a completely foreign group to us. We need to let Core Research do their jobs... especially before we try anything. We don't need to cause more issues for the Ninth."
"When you put it that way...."
"I suppose that's true."
Lal scoffed and turned on her heel, stalking down the marble hallways. Those three! What right did they have to question the way the Ninth ran things, or make plans behind their backs, or--
Or she needed to stop being so paranoid. Just because people were talking did not revolters or traitors make.
Hopefully.
It was rather suspicious how Rem's Manor had been destroyed, though....
"Oi, Lal! We're being called together, kora!"
She was so very, very tempted to just ignore her (annoying) once-student. He deserved it after the maple syrup incident this morning, after all.
Colonello ran up to walk along beside her. She tried not to notice his overly goofy grin. "Lal, aren't you going to ask why, kora?"
"No, I'm not."
He looked hurt at that. Just a tiny bit. "Why not?"
Had it always been this much effort not to cause him bodily harm? Recollection said yes, but she didn't believe it. "Because a certain loudmouth will probably tell me anyways."
His grin was back in full force, and he started bouncing on his heels like a five year old. Lal wondered if their occasional time spent in infant form was starting to take its toll on the other ex-COMSUBIN. "The Ninth figured it out kora! So he wants all us Arcobaleno there, to tell us first! Isn't that great, kora?"
Lal would have agreed, if she could figure out what, exactly, had been 'figured out'. "Colonello?"
"Yes?"
"Exactly how many crises are we going through right now?"
"Oh," and he at least had the grace to look sheepish. "I mean... he figured out what to do about the Rem situation kora."
"Rem?" Lal blinked--one didn't often hear about a 'situation' regarding one of the Sentiences--they took care of their devotees too well for complaints to arise. Then again, it had been Rem's Manor burned, and everyone inside dead or gravely injured.... "Don't tell me," Lal finally groaned, "that Rem's High Priestess was killed?"
"Even if she hadn't been, all those left alive are beyond the capability of fulfilling their duties. Rem's agreed to let all of them retire with graces, kora."
"Who will stand as the High Priestess for the Balancing Ceremony then?" It was too much to consider: of all the Sentiences, Rem was the second-most picky regarding devotee selection, and the role of High Priestess was the most sensitive and therefore the devotee had to be selected with every care and consideration. With Rem being the mind of the Sixth Fonon, the "Sound of Light", there were very few people who passed even the basic qualifications to be a priest or priestess of Rem's... and of those, only one in two hundred had even a sliver of potential to be the High Priestess. If they were lucky. "There's only one week until the Ceremony--that's not enough time to find someone Rem approves of!" And not completing the Balancing Ceremony between Light and Dark? Was a very, very bad idea.
Colonello looked thoughtful, grabbing Lal's elbow and dragging her down an ill-lit hallway. "I don't know, kora," he admitted. "But the Ninth seems to have a plan, kora."
Lal shook her head. "If the Ninth has a plan, then Lorelei has a plot, and God knows I'd rather not be involved in one of those again."
"Haha, we'll see, kora."
The meeting chamber Colonello directed (dragged) her to was an out of the way annex within a larger, normally unused portion of the Main Compoud: the Solarium was widely inaccesible, highly populated by plants and small animals, and completely impractical for nearly all endeavours. (Specifically, it had been designed as a recreational park for rainy days; but the gardens and gazebos and covered walkways and leafy glades could draw people to them in the middle of a hurricane.)
"Ah good, you're here," the Ninth greeted from his seat on a worn bench. Lal bet that the bench was actually brand new and had just been--what was the word? Distressed?--for appearances sake. "We are just waiting on Reborn, then."
"He will not make it today," Fon murmured serenely from his perch in a nearby oak. "Reborn said that Shadow was being abnormally noisy for a summer day, and needed to visit him before the Sentience destroyed his own Manor in his aggitation."
All those present winced: Shadow on a good day was someone you didn't want to deal with. Shadow on a bad day was someone you wouldn't subject even your worst enemies to.
"That might just be for the better, then," the Ninth murmured to himself, looking around at those gathered. "Very well. Due to these most tragic events of the last two weeks, we have regretfully lost all of Rem's devotees--not all to Death, thank heavens, but they are lost to us nonetheless. Rem's High Priestess, in particular, and both of those in-training to succeed the High Priestess, were some of the first to fall in the attack."
"Rest their souls," Aria whispered, laying a hand gently over the slight bulge of her stomach.
The Ninth nodded to her, looking old and weary. "Without a High Priestess to stand for Light, the Balancing Ceremony cannot be completed. However," he cut off the Arcobaleno's open mouths and silent protests, "Rem has, finally, secured for us a person who fulfills all the necessary qualifications."
Mouths were still agape, but for a different reason. Lal tried to reason it out. "A... already? I'm not angry, but... all qualifications?"
"All that matter," the Ninth agreed, a faint smile twitching the corners of his lips. "But there are still some issues regarding this."
Lal wasn't sure what to say, what to ask; as far as she could tell, everyone else was in the same state.
The Ninth took pity on them at least and explained: "The person Rem has found... was not found by Rem." Not that that made any sense... and Lal's suspicions regarding Lorelei's involvement were twitching. Please don't let me be right, please don't let me be right.... "The person chosen is, in fact, a five year old child."
"WHAT?" Requirements met or not, children were generally NOT accepted. Even Verde, Viper and Skull looked horrified (as much as they could look, hoods and helmets and scientifically plotting minds considered). There was only one situation where children were accepted as a devotee, and Lal was still desperately hoping that Lorelei had stayed out of this.
Aria stood to object, and swayed on her feet--she still wasn't used to pregnancy or the accompanying morning sickness. "Steady," Colonello cautioned her, having sprung up to support her.
Aria, of course, ignored him. (Lal silently applauded her.) "With all due respect, Ninth, I must object to this! A child has no place taking part in the Balancing Ceremony, nor bearing the weight of being High Priestess! Surely there is someone else--older, perhaps more mature--who could take this place!" She cupped her stomach, eyes turning downcast. "No child should bear that burden."
"I understand your feelings, Aria," the Ninth murmured, extending a kindly hand to her and helping her to a seat beside him. "However, this child is no ordinary child." The shivers that ran down Lal's spine told her that nothing good would come of what followed. "Although five years old, this young one has shown an affinity for all fonons, especially those of the Light callibration."
Lal had to admit that was impressive: normally fonic affinities weren't remotely useable (and therefore measurable) until well into the teen years. Which, of course, was only more suspicions. A five year old child with such a high fonic affinity, appearing seemingly out of nowhere? This practically screamed it was--
"And," the Ninth finished with a long-suffering sigh, "this boy was hand-picked by Lorelei to be the Successor of the Sky."
There was only one sane reaction.
"There are so many things wrong with that!" Lal raved later, sitting around the table in the Arcobaleno's private quarters. "First of all, a five year old child should NEVER be forced into the Balancing Ceremony!"
"There is a certain wrongness to asking someone younger than fifteen to take part in such an act," Fon agreed quietly, eyes trained on his tea.
"Even fifteen is still too young," Lal retorted, "it should be twenty minimum! And the Successor? The future Sky, Lorelei's sole Priest?"
"There's probably going to be some division of time or something so that they can fulfill both roles," Colonello tried to reason. The crease on his brow betrayed his otherwise calm countenance.
Lal brushed his comment off. "And then there's the fact that this child is a five year old BOY. Last I checked, the High Priestess needed to be a woman!"
Aria remained silent, focusing on the plate of cookies before her.
Lal shook her head, standing with a hand pounding on the table. "We should march straight up to the Ninth's office, demand to see him, and get him to talk sense into Rem and Lorelei!"
"We did walk out on him earlier," Colonello pointed out. "He probably was going to give us more information about this, maybe explain that there's some other reasoning behind this--"
"There's NOT any other reasoning!" Lal shouted, "The only reasoning is Lorelei--once again--taking advantage of his place and shoving his ass where it doesn't belong--"
"Lal... Lorelei would be the last person to want to hand over his future Priest to another Sentience," Aria whispered.
In the ensuing silence, Lal caught her first good look of Aria in weeks. The other woman was pale, dark hair standing out against snow-white skin, with a thin face and almost perfectly hour-glass shaped body and heavily darkened eyes tinged with a hint of red.
Lal paused. A woman who spent as much time outside as Aria did--especially a pregnant woman--should not be pale. Her body should have taken on extra pounds to help support the life growing in her womb. Her eyes were dark because they were sunken, and appeared red probably because of tears....
"Aria," Lal ventured, "you look... sick. What's wrong?"
Aria didn't glance up, but her silence was conspicuous.
"Aria--"
"Don't, Colonello," Fon cut the other off. "Aria, if you ever need to talk about it, we are here."
"I know," she replied, "and thank you."
Lal frowned, still worried for her fellow Arcobaleno. Still, if Aria didn't want to talk about what was wrong with her, there were other problems to address. "But if Lorelei didn't want to hand over his Priest, why would this... this child be assigned to Rem?"
"Maybe there were other issues," Fon offered. "It does seem unlikely that only a five year old boy would be the first, and apparently only, applicable candidate for this position."
Colonello nodded. "That sounds right. There's too many unknown variables here. It worries me."
"Well--"
Knock.
"Sirs, Ma'am?"
Lal rolled her eyes while Colonello stood to get the door. "Who the heck needs to bother us now?" She grumbled.
The old oak door swung open, Colonello staring dispondently at the suited man on the other side. "What?"
"Sir," the man began, "the Ninth sent me with this to you, with a message. 'Take good care of this for me,' he says."
"Take good care of what?" Lal called, unable to see what was in the doorway, what with Colonello blocking half of it and the door blocking the other half.
"This, ma'am," the man bowed to her, turning and leaving immediately afterwards.
Aria had looked up, attention caught. "Colonello?"
The Rain Arcobaleno turned slowly, one hand reaching out to firmly shut and lock the door; his other hand was grasping a pale, small fist: a fist that led to an arm, and a shoulder, and a soft, rounded face... and wide, impossibly large gold-amber eyes.
"H... hi," the little boy greeted, stumbling forward into a shy bow. A part of Lal's mind that was still opperating noted that his voice was heavily accented, and he looked Asian--Korean, maybe, or Japanese? "I... um, am... I am Tsuna!" He smiled widely, still a bit shy.
Lal, Fon, Aria and Colonello stared.
Caught in the oppresive silence, the little boy--Tsuna--ducked timidly behind Colonello's legs, staring out at them like a deer caught in the headlights.
They stared some more.
Tsuna looked up at Colonello, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "Mister... can I see mommy now?"
Fon fought back a smile, Aria stood to welcome him, and Lal fought the urge to rub her forehead. If her oncoming mirgraine was any indication, this was going to be one long week indeed.